''Peredur son of Efrawg'' is one of the

Three Welsh Romances The Three Welsh Romances (Welsh language, Welsh: ') are three Middle Welsh tales associated with the ''Mabinogion''. They are versions of Arthurian tales that also appear in the work of Chrétien de Troyes. Critics have debated whether the Welsh R ...

associated with the ''

Mabinogion The ''Mabinogion'' () are the earliest Welsh prose stories, and belong to the Matter of Britain. The stories were compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, create ...

''. It tells a story roughly analogous to

Chrétien de Troyes Chrétien de Troyes (Modern ; fro, Crestien de Troies ; 1160–1191) was a French poet and trouvère known for his writing on Arthurian subjects, and for first writing of Lancelot, Percival and the Holy Grail. Chrétien's works, including ''E ...

' unfinished romance ''

Perceval, the Story of the Grail , original_title_lang = fro , translator = , written = between 1182 and 1190 , country = , language = Old French , subject = Arthurian legend , genre = Chivalric romance , for ...

'', but it contains many striking differences from that work, most notably the absence of the French poem's central object, the

grail The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) was an American lunar science mission in NASA's Discovery Program which used high-quality gravitational field mapping of the Moon to determine its interior structure. The two small spacecraf ...

Synopsis

The central character of the tale is

Peredur Peredur (, Old Welsh ''Peretur'') is the name of a number of men from the boundaries of history and legend in sub-Roman Britain. The Peredur who is most familiar to a modern audience is the character who made his entrance as a knight in the Art ...

, son of Efrawg (''

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

''). As in Chrétien's ''

Percival Percival (, also spelled Perceval, Parzival), alternatively called Peredur (), was one of King Arthur's legendary Knights of the Round Table. First mentioned by the French author Chrétien de Troyes in the tale ''Perceval, the Story of the G ...

'', the hero's father dies when he is young, and his mother takes him into the woods and raises him in isolation. Eventually, he meets a group of knights and determines to become like them, so he travels to the court of

King Arthur King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...

. There he is ridiculed by Cei and sets out on further adventures, promising to avenge Cei's insults to himself and those who defended him. While travelling, he meets two of his uncles. The first (playing the role of ''Percivals

Gornemant The Knights of the Round Table ( cy, Marchogion y Ford Gron, kw, Marghekyon an Moos Krenn, br, Marc'hegien an Daol Grenn) are the knights of the fellowship of King Arthur in the literary cycle of the Matter of Britain. First appearing in lit ...

) educates him in arms and warns him not to ask the significance of what he sees. The second (replacing Chrétien's

Fisher King The Fisher King is a figure in Arthurian legend, the last in a long line of British kings tasked with guarding the Holy Grail. The Fisher King is both the protector and physical embodiment of his lands, but a wound renders him incapable and hi ...

) reveals a salver containing a man's severed head. The young knight does not ask about this and proceeds to further adventure, including a stay with the Nine Witches of

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

(''Caer Loyw'') and the encounter with the woman who was to be his true love,

Angharad Golden-Hand Angharad Golden-Hand (; ) (otherwise Angharat, or Angharad Law Eurawc) is the heroine of the Welsh Romance ''Peredur son of Efrawg'', and associated with the '' Mabinogion''. In the Welsh tale of Peredur, Angharad Golden-Hand is a lady of King ...

. Peredur returns to Arthur's court, but soon embarks on another series of adventures that do not correspond to material in ''Percival'' (

Gawain Gawain (), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned under the name Gwalchmei in the earliest ...

's exploits take up this section of the French work). In the end, the hero learns the severed head at his uncle's court belonged to his cousin, who had been killed by the Nine Witches. Peredur avenges his family by helping Arthur and others destroy the Witches, and is celebrated as a hero.

Manuscripts and dating

Versions of the text survive in four manuscripts from the 14th century: (1) the mid-14th century

White Book of Rhydderch The White Book of Rhydderch (Welsh: ''Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch'', National Library of Wales, Peniarth MS 4-5) is one of the most notable and celebrated surviving manuscripts in Welsh. Mostly written in southwest Wales in the middle of the 14th century ...

or Aberystwyth, NLW, MS

Peniarth Peniarth is a village and community in Meifod, Powys, Wales. It is 87.1 miles (140.2 km) from Cardiff and 156.9 miles (252.5 km) from London. It is represented in the Senedd by Russell George (Conservative). It is part of the Montgomery ...

4; (2) MS Peniarth 7, which dates from the beginning of the century, or earlier, and lacks the beginning of the text; (3) MS Peniarth 14, a fragment from the 2nd quarter of the 14th century, and (4) the

Red Book of Hergest The ''Red Book of Hergest'' ( cy, Llyfr Coch Hergest, Oxford, Jesus College, MS 111) is a large vellum manuscript written shortly after 1382, which ranks as one of the most important medieval manuscripts written in the Welsh language. It preser ...

, from the end of the same century. The texts found in the White Book of Rhydderch and Red Book of Hergest represent the longest version. They are generally in close agreement and most of their differences are concentrated in the first part of the text, before the love-story of Angharad. MS Peniarth 7, the earliest manuscript, concludes with Peredur's the hero's 14-year stay in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

, reigning with the Empress. This has been taken to indicate that the adventures in the Fortress of Marvels, which follow this episode in the longest version, represent a later addition to the text. On orthographic grounds, Glenys Goetinck postulates a date in the 12th century. Many other scholars, however, have favoured a later date.

Sources and analogues

Jesus-College-MS-111 00322 161v (cropped) Peredur

Like the other

Welsh Romances The Three Welsh Romances (Welsh language, Welsh: ') are three Middle Welsh tales associated with the ''Mabinogion''. They are versions of Arthurian tales that also appear in the work of Chrétien de Troyes. Critics have debated whether the Welsh R ...

, scholars debate as to the work's exact relationship to Chrétien's poem. It is possible ''Peredur'' preserves some of the material found in Chrétien's source. The sequence of some events are altered in ''Peredur'', and many original episodes appear, including the reign in Constantinople, which contains remnants of a

sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...

tale. The grail (

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...

''graal'') is replaced with a severed head on a platter, reflecting stories of

Bran the Blessed Bran, also known as miller's bran, is the hard outer layers of cereal grain. It consists of the combined aleurone and pericarp. Corn (maize) bran also includes the pedicel (tip cap). Along with germ, it is an integral part of whole grains, a ...

from the ''

''. Despite these seemingly-traditional elements, however, influence from the French romance cannot be discounted. As John Carey notes, there are significant phrase-for-phrase parallels between Chretien's poem and ''Peredur'', especially in the conversation between Gawain/Gwalchmai and Perceval/Peredur that occurs after Gawain/Gwalchmai covers the blood on the snow which reminds Perceval/Peredur of his love (Blancheflor in Chretien). Moreover, the black-haired hag describes the bleeding spear Peredur saw earlier in the tale as a small spear carried by one youth with a single drop running down (like Chretien), but this is different from how the relevant earlier passage in ''Peredur'' depicts it, which is as a gigantic spear carried by two youths and bleeding three drops. The hero of the poem has a father, Efrawg, whose name has been etymologically associated with

(the modern Welsh name for York is Efrog or Caerefrog, derived from the Roman ''Eboracum'' via the

Brythonic Brittonic or Brythonic may refer to: *Common Brittonic, or Brythonic, the Celtic language anciently spoken in Great Britain *Brittonic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages descended from Common Brittonic *Britons (Celtic people) The Br ...

''Caer Ebrauc'' mentioned by

Nennius Nennius – or Nemnius or Nemnivus – was a Welsh monk of the 9th century. He has traditionally been attributed with the authorship of the ''Historia Brittonum'', based on the prologue affixed to that work. This attribution is widely considered ...

). Thus, it can be speculated that

may have been based on a

Brython The Britons ( *''Pritanī'', la, Britanni), also known as Celtic Britons or Ancient Britons, were people of Celtic language and culture who inhabited Great Britain from at least the British Iron Age and into the Middle Ages, at which point the ...

ic prince who ruled in what is now

Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

. There is no clear evidence for a Welsh dynasty in the York area, and legendary sources should always be taken with the proverbial pinch of salt. Carey himself connects the Peredur of this romance, and Perceval by proxy, with the otherworldly ''Mabinogion'' character

Pryderi Pryderi fab Pwyll is a prominent figure in Welsh mythology, the son of Pwyll and Rhiannon, and king of Dyfed after his father's death. He is the only character to appear in all Four Branches of the Mabinogi, although the size of his role varies ...

, as other scholars have done.Carey, John. ''Ireland and the Grail''. Aberystwyth: Celtic Studies Publications, 2007. Of course, it is hardly necessary to find a source for every detail of the narrative: the narrator whose text we have may have freely indulged in original creativity. A parallel case with traditional stories in Ireland is found in the examples given in J.E. Caerwyn-Williams, ''Y Storïwr Gwyddeleg a'i Chwedlau'' (University of Wales Press), where Caerwyn-Williams freely admits that the form of the story given by the storyteller depends on the audience to which it is delivered. It is not necessary therefore always to find literary sources for such tales in their

Middle Welsh Middle Welsh ( cy, Cymraeg Canol, wlm, Kymraec) is the label attached to the Welsh language of the 12th to 15th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This form of Welsh developed directly from Old Welsh ( cy, Hen G ...

form: in any case, most written sources will have perished, and there is no way that we can tell if the surviving sources are in any way representative of the whole of what might have been extant.

References

Sources

* * Gantz, Jeffrey (trans.), ''The Mabinogion'', Penguin, 1987. * Lovecy, Ian. "''Historia Peredur ab Efrawg''." In ''The Arthur of the Welsh: the Arthurian legend in medieval Welsh literature'', edited by Rachel Bromwich, A.O.H. Jarman and B.F. Roberts. Cardiff, 1991. 171-82. * Vitt, Anthony M. (ed. and trans.), ''Peredur vab Efrawc: Edited Texts and Translations of the MSS Peniarth 7 and 14 Versions'', https://pure.aber.ac.uk/portal/files/11363276/Vitt_Electronic_MPhil_Thesis.pdf. MPhil thesis, Aberystwyth University, 2011. 203-204.

External links